


Milestones

by roseandheather



Series: Bittersweet And Strange [36]
Category: Inspector Lynley Mysteries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-07
Updated: 2012-07-07
Packaged: 2017-11-09 09:39:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/454032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roseandheather/pseuds/roseandheather
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five anniversaries. Forty-two years. From the beginning to the end - a journey through time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Milestones

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spikewriter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spikewriter/gifts).



One  
She bumps into Nkata as he's heading out the door. He sends her that old, familiar grin and says, "Happy anniversary, Inspector Lynley!"  
  
She's so startled and so bloody chuffed that she plants a kiss on his cheek before she can think about it.  
  
When she and Tommy make it through the door later that night, they can barely keep their hands off each other long enough to slam it shut behind them. He tumbles her to the sheets and rains kisses all over her face, and she laughs and kisses him back, open-mouthed and messy and not quite kisses at all, just pressing her lips anywhere and everywhere she can reach.  
  
It is, bar none, the best sex they've ever had up until that point. And for them, that is saying quite a lot.

  
  
Seven  
They spend their seventh anniversary chasing yet another not-quite-clever criminal through the streets of London. In the end she makes a spectacular collar, throwing herself and the suspect into a ditch and coming up with his hands twisted behind his back as she pins him to the ground.  
  
All Tommy can do is stare.  
  
As the beat cops take their suspect down to the Yard for processing, he comes up behind her, shoves her against the nearest wall, wipes a muddy tendril of hair off her face and snogs the breath out of her, lips tangling, panting and wild-eyed. "My God," he whispers, "how did I ever live without you?"  
  
And she tucks her head into his shoulder and says, "Take me home, love. Let's have at least a little time for us today, hmm?"  
  
So he does.

  
  
Twenty-one  
Their twenty-first anniversary, they spend lecturing at the police academy. _My God,_ she thinks, _was I ever that young?_  
  
Tommy is giving a lecture on work, relationships, and how they should Never Ever Intersect when a bright-eyed girl with mocha skin - Katheryn Nkata, Winston's niece - asks, "Wait, aren't you two _married?_ "  
  
"Did you get that from our names?" Barbara asks dryly - in fact, she's surprised no one spoke up sooner - but quickly sobers. "Yes, we are. Twenty-one years today, in fact. And you all need to pay attention to this," she continues as Lynley abandons whatever point he was making. "The reason we could pull this off - our marriage, I mean - and keep working together was simple: we are a couple of very screwed up people. However bad an idea keeping us together might be - and some days, it is a bad one - the alternative is much worse." She studies them all with a sober gaze. "Have a life outside of your work. Don't let this be all you are. We have managed this long because we found each other - that is all. If we hadn't, I would have burnt out of this job two decades ago, and Tommy -"  
  
" -probably even sooner," he finishes for her. "Barbara is right. This can be your job, even your vocation, but don't make it your life."  
  
The class stares at them for a moment, nodding soberly. But before they can go back to the topic at hand, Katheryn starts chanting, "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" The rest of the room picks up the chant, and she grins at him, a little shyly. He smiles and shakes his head, then captures her lips with his, leaving her breathless and trembling.  
  
It's only when the class starts to cheer that she remembers they're not alone.

 

  
Thirty-five  
She wakes up to him kissing her softly, his hand smoothing her hair. She responds drowsily, still half asleep, brushing his cheek with her hand.  
  
"I love you," he whispers against her mouth.  
  
"Mmm. Love you too." And she smiles, sleepy and soft. "Wake me up in a couple hours, k?"  
  
He smiles and shakes his head as she curls into him and tucks her head into his lap, then opens the newspaper and begins to read.

  
  
Forty-two  
It's getting harder and harder for her to breathe. The pneumonia has raged for more than a week now, and though they've pumped her full of antibiotics, her fever has yet to come down. She mostly sleeps, but every so often she wakes up, her eyes fever-bright.  
  
He never leaves her bedside.  
  
Then one day she looks at him, her eyes clear as they haven't been since before the illness, and he _knows_ , like a punch to his solar plexus.  
  
"No," he moans, clutching her hand. "Please, God, no."  
  
"Shut it," she whispers, too out of breath to do more. "We've had a good run, Tommy, haven't we?"  
  
"It's not long enough!" he cries, frantic, his heart shattering in his ribcage, splintering shards of agony tearing through him. "Never long enough, Barbara-lynne."  
  
"You'll be okay," she pants. "You have to promise me, Tommy, you'll carry on. Please. I can't..."  
  
"Hush," he soothes, even as salt begins to sting his eyes. "I'll try, Barbara-love. For you, I'll try."  
  
"I love you," she murmurs with every breath she has, then closes her eyes.  
  
He kisses her, soft, broken, her hand in his, the tears falling like rain.  
  
The last thing she feels is his lips on hers.  
  
~*~  
  
He makes it exactly a year before he falls to a heart attack no one ever saw coming.  
  
Until her dying day, Judith swears her brother died of a broken heart.  
  
Judith hugs her son tight. He is the Earl of Asherton now; she hopes he will do as well with it as her brother did. Her daughter-in-law Susan holds Andrew's hand, tears in her bright blue eyes.  
  
"I miss him so much, Sue," he murmurs against her ear.  
  
"So do I, love," she answers, low and sweet. "But at least now he and Aunt Barbara can be together."  
  
The notion helps all three of them, if only just a little.  
  
~*~  
  
Barbara meets him when he goes; he'd almost swear she caught him as he started to fall. "Easy, now, love."  
  
"Barbara," he whispers. "My God, love." They sink to the ground together, clutching each other tight; Barbara's eyes are bright with joy, but with tears, too. "It was agony, Barbara. Every minute without you."  
  
"I know. For me, too. But Tommy -" Her tears begin to spill over. "You did it, love. You made it. So did I. And now we never have to, not ever again."  
  
She helps him off the ground, and it's then that he sees she looks as he's always remembered her; her hair strawberry fire in the breeze, her eyes dancing with joy, her smile brighter than a thousand stars.  
  
Out over the water the sun is dying in a blaze of orange fire, and he tugs her close for a kiss that is as much spirit on spirit as it is lips on lips. It is every kiss they've ever had, a gasping shock of feeling that will never fade, never pale, as eon spins into eternity.  
  
Then he takes her hand.  
  
Together they walk out over the water and into the sunset, into forever.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, this is so very not the end, you have no idea. This is not even close to the whole story - just snapshots of their life together. There is *so* much more to come.


End file.
